Sclerotinia rot is a disease caused by the fungus Sclerotinina sclerotiorum which affects a wide range of crops and causes major yield and economic losses. Crop rotation is an important strategy for minimising losses. A dynamic programming (DP) model was developed to study the trade-offs between...

Taylor et al. (2001) noted that well designed rotations are fundamental to organic farming systems. Rotations help organic systems achieve a balance between crops which deplete fertility, in particular nitrogen, and soil organic matter, and crops which restore fertility. The paper discusses the...

One of the aims of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to increase the competitiveness of farmers through increasing their exposure to markets. An aspect of competitiveness is the gains in economic efficiency. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to estimate indicators of farm...

There have been a number of supply chain adjustments in food and farming in Scotland in recent years, one of which has been the growth in the number of “farmers’ markets” (FMs). These are markets in which agricultural produce from a defined local area is sold by stallholders involved in...

Sclerotinia rot is a disease caused by the fungus Sclerotinina sclerotiorum which affects a wide range of crops and causes major yield and economic losses. Crop rotation is an important strategy for minimising losses. A dynamic programming (DP) model was developed to study the trade-offs between...

The purpose of the paper is to present an agricultural supply model for Scotland used to estimate regional changes in agricultural outputs due to the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. Supply functions were estimated for several farm types based on generalised trans-logarithmic...

The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether collaborative supply chain initiatives may help to provide income stability for farmers, focussing the analysis on the red meat supply chain in Scotland. Collaborative supply chains may contribute with two elements to attain higher income...

The paper analyses the impact that European Union (EU) farmers’ and rural population’s awareness of biotechnology innovations and access to/trust in information on these issues (amongst other a priori determinants) have on their perceptions of risks and benefits of the applications of...

A number of influential policy circles have championed sustainable intensification as an approach to meet the challenge of a growing population under increasing land constraints. Various definitions exist for sustainable intensification, but most have been focused on the environment and on the...

In this paper the cost efficiency of Scottish farms is determined, variables that explain the relative cost efficiency by farm type are identified and implications discussed. A cost efficiency approach was selected as it can deal with farms producing multiple outputs (in contrast to production...